Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports the Colorado Avalanche have traded forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team deal involving the Chicago Blackhawks.
According to Seravalli, the Blackhawks are sending Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes. Other reports suggest Martin Necas will be heading to the Avalanche.
Colorado Avalanche trade Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes (NHL Images).
Details to follow…
**UPDATE**
The trade is as follows:
Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall to the Hurricanes.
Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-rounder from the Hurricanes to the Avalanche.
A third-round pick going to the Blackhawks, who retain half of Rantanen’s $9.25 million cap hit. They retained no portion of Hall’s cap hit.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll take a lot to top this blockbuster as the biggest trade of 2024-25, perhaps even of the entire calendar year of 2025, and we’re only just over three weeks into the new year.
This move signals the Hurricanes are going for it this season. Rantanen is one of the league’s elite scorers, on pace for his third straight 100-point campaign with 64 points in 49 games. He was also a Stanley Cup champion with the Avalanche in 2022 and his experience should prove helpful.
Hall is a former winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy (2018). His best seasons are behind him but he’s still a well-respected playmaking winger. He’s going from one of the league’s worst clubs to one of the better ones as his presence also bolsters the Hurricanes’ offense.
It’s been reported that Rantanen informed Avalanche management of his intention to test the free-agent market in July. Rather than stick with him as an own rental for one last playoff run, the Avs opted to ship him out for Necas and Drury. It remains to be seen if the Hurricanes will attempt to re-sign him before July 1.
Necas is a scoring forward who can play center or wing. The 26-year-old’s production cooled a bit following a hot start but he’s 12th among this season’s leading scorers with 55 points in 49 games, putting the 26-year-old on pace to exceed his career-high 71 points in 2022-23. He’s in the first season of a two-year deal with an average annual value of $6.5 million.
Drury, 24, saw checking-line duty with the Hurricanes. He missed 10 games with an injury hand and has nine points in 39 games after reaching 27 points in 74 games last season.
How Necas and Drury fit in with their new club will be interesting. The deal also freed up cap space for the Avalanche, creating speculation they’re not done making moves.
The Blackhawks used their cap space to facilitate this deal and move Hall to a playoff contender. In return, they received the 2025 third-round they traded to the Hurricanes last year.
